Mad Dog X knives...any experience?

muzzleup

muzzleup

Joined
Jul 2, 2000
Messages
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I just read some hype about the Mad Dog X ceramic bladed knives. Now I have a Boker ceramic and it is scalpel sharp but is brittle and even chips when cutting cardboard, so how can Mad Dog elude to his ceramic bladed knives being so tough and able to stand up to chopping? It seems to me that they HAVE to be brittle, given the hardness of ceramic, and would chip at the edge if any side ways pressure or torque was applied to it.
Has there been a past topic that talked about this knife?
Thanks for any info.

Ron

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Ron,
Now Thets-A-Noif Shop
Bremerton, Washington
 
Hello,
There have been quite a few threads talking about the MirageX. You will probably need to look within the archives, though. But from my own experience (I own the EOD model), MD can lay that claim because his blades are very thick. Probably twice, maybe even two and a half times thicker than the Kyocera blades that Boker uses. The edge is also left very thick. Being so thick, they can take more abuse. But remember that they are still ceramic and, therefore, brittle. That said, I have chopped and hacked my way through a few wooden crates without any noticeable detriment to my blade. The downside is that it doesn't slice as well as thinner blades, either the Kyocera ceramic stuff, or good steel blades.
 
Thanks for the reply. I think that I will stick with what I know and not venture forth into MD. Think I will go with the Busse line.
Ron

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Ron,
Now Thets-A-Noif Shop
Bremerton, Washington
 
The difference between MD Mirage X knives and other ceramic knives (Kyocera, Boker, Puma, etc) is more than blade thickness and geometry, or so I was told. If my memory serves me well, Kevin uses different ceramic composite, though I don't recall he ever gave the name somewhere. But yeah, like Steelwolf said, it's brittle.

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Reynaert
 
Few months back, someone posted three pics at Tacticalforums showing K. McClung hammering an EOD into a steel drum, with no visible damage to the tip. Definitely not the same species of ceramic composite as Kyocera.

Also, Steelwolf:
I don't know how the MD's measure at the very edge, but at the spine they are nearly FOUR times thicker. MD's = .25", Kyocera/Boker = 2mm, or just barely a hair over 1/16". FYI.

Every so often, when a comment about Titanium arises, Mission Knives is quick to point out that there are several varieties of Titanium that cannot meaningfully be lumped together. ("One does not uniformly refer to 'steel,'" or something to that effect.) No doubt, in the not-too-distant future, we'll be discussing the different types of ceramic composites in the same vein: composite X is tougher, Y keeps a longer edge, Z takes a finer edge, etc. The Mad Dog composite may be a step in that direction.

$0.02
Glen
 
To be fair, comparing Mad Dog ceramics to Busse Combat knives is really comparing apples to oranges. One gets a ceramic blade for one set of circumstances, and one carries a Busse for a very different set of circumstances. I don`t see in what way they`re comparable. Magnetic signature, maybe?
 
Thanks for the replies, they have been very informatinve. I guess I am still leary of using ceramic bladed knives. I know that when I was still in the machinist trade that ceramic inserted cutting tools would cut like a champ as long as the insert was kept in contact with the part being machined (high speed, high feed) but as soon as it came to an interupted cuts, ie, hits a hole or sand pocket (in a casting) that the insert would just blow apart.
So I will stick with steel and beta-titanium for now.
Thanks again for your replies
Ron

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Ron,
Now Thets-A-Noif Shop
Bremerton, Washington
 
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